Women's Soccer 10/18/2023 12:05:00 PM Nicholas Fernbaugh

PREVIEW: Women’s Soccer at Saint Louis for Last Regular Season Road Trip

PITTSBURGH - The Duquesne University women's soccer team will make its last regular season road trip of 2023 on Thursday, taking on No. 22 ranked and A-10 leading Saint Louis.

THE BASICS

October 19, 2023 | 8:00 p.m. (ET) | Robert R. Hermann Stadium (St. Louis, Mo.)

Duquesne Dukes (6-6-4, 3-1-4 A-10)

Streak: L1 | Roster | Stats | Schedule

Saint Louis Billikens (12-2-2, 7-0-1 A-10)

Streak: W5 | Roster | Stats | Schedule

GAMEDAY COVERAGE

Watch Live on ESPN+ | Follow Live Stats | Gameday Central

BY THE NUMBERS

Stats Comparison - WSOC 10-19-2023 at SLU

THE DUKES

Ten Duquesne Dukes have scored a goal this season and freshman Anna Bundy (2) became the fourth to have multiple scores after the game-winner against Rhode Island on the road, along with Brianna Moore – 5, Maya Matesa - 5, and Jaimi Araujo – 2.
Moore and Matesa lead the team in goals with five, which is good for a tie for eighth in goals as both also leads the team with points at 11.
Seven Dukes have four points or more (Matesa – 11, Moore – 11, Karley Steinher -- 5, Morgan Kulniszewski – 4, Anna Bundy – 4, Margey Brown – 4, Lindsey Krafchick—4 and Araujo – 4) … 15 players have recorded at least one point this season.

Kulniszewski is tied for ninth in the A-10 with four assists this season.
Matesa leads the team lead with 32 shots … Eight Dukes have taken double-digit shots, of those Libby Majka (60%) and Moore (55%) have put over half their shots on target.
Goalkeeper Maddy Neundorfer is tied for second in the A-10 with seven shutouts while ranking fourth in total saves (70).
Duquesne has scored multiple goals four times this season and won all four matches (5-0 vs. American / 2-0 vs. St. Francis / 2-0 vs. St. Bonaventure / 3-0 vs. George Washington).
The Dukes were unbeaten through their first seven Atlantic 10 matches before their last matchup against La Salle, at 3-0-4 … The first time Duquesne started off A-10 play undefeated through their first seven conference matchups in school history.

Duquesne has not lost on the road in conference play this season, at 2-0-2, most recently a 0-0 tie at Saint Joseph's on Oct. 7 ... The Dukes are 2-4-2 overall on the road this season.

LAST TIME OUT

The Dukes squared off against La Salle at home on Sunday afternoon and dropped the matchup 4-1.
Maddy Neundorfer made eight saves to give Duquesne a chance to get a rally.
The lone goal came in the 63rd minute of the game with a cross from Lindsey Krafchick to Brianna Moore before she passed it down to Emma Bundy who tucked it under the Explorers keeper to make the score 3-1.

Mackenzie Muir led the team with two shots with one of them going on target.

THE BILLIKENS

Saint Louis is on the back of a five-game winning streak winning their last two games against Rhode Island and UMass by a combined score of 11-0.
The Billikens are currently undefeated in conference play through their first eight matchups (7-0-1).
SLU has the top two goal scorers in the A-10 with Emily Gaebe scoring nine goals and Caroline Kelly scoring eight goals making a deadly duo for the rest of the A-10.

Saint Louis has four players with double-digit points with the team leader in points being Gaebe with 24 points through the 2023 season.
SLU's keeper, Emily Puricelli, has led the charge for the strong defense for the Billikens as she has only allowed ten goals this season to the tune of a .868 save percentage good for second-best in the A-10.
The Billikens' best playmaker is Hannah Larson who has seven assists which puts her tied for the lead in the A-10 for assists.

THE SERIES

Duquesne is 4-10 all-time against Saint Louis.

The Dukes' last win against Saint Louis came two years back at home, winning 3-1 on September 23rd which was also their largest margin of victory against the Billikens.
Their last matchup was at home, losing a tight contest 1-0.
The Dukes have played SLU their last four matchups at home going 1-3

The last time Duquesne played at home was March 21st, 2021, in which Duquesne lost another tight contest 1-0.
DU's last win on the road against Saint Louis was on October 8th, 2010, beating the Billikens 2-1.

ACROSS THE A-10

Duquesne enters the matchup in sixth place in the A-10 with 13 points, narrowly in front of Rhode Island (12), Loyola Chicago (11), and VCU (10) and just behind UMass (14) and Saint Joseph's (15) ... Saint Louis is at the top of the league as the only unbeaten with 22 points.
For all the matchups this week across the A-10 click here.
For full A-10 standings click here.

ALL-TIME LEADERBOARD

Graduate student forward Jaimi Araujo moved into a tie for 9th in career goals at DU with Sarah Nicholson (1995-98), with two goals early in the season to bring her career total to 15 in the Red and Blue.
Araujo would move into a four-way tie for 6th place on the all-time leaderboard on her next goal (16) … Lauren Bracco ('00-03), Faye Rasmussen ('04-07), and Morgan Herbert ('09-12) are all currently tied for 6th … The all-time leader at DU is Katie O'Conner (2015-18) with 25.

SINGLE SEASON LEADERBOARD

Sophomore forward Morgan Kulniszewski has four assists this season and her next assist will put her in a tie for seventh most in a single season.
Junior goalkeeper Maddy Neundorfer has seven shutouts this season putting her tied for second on the single-season leaderboard for shutouts tied with Kelly O'Neil (1996, 1998) and Kyra Murphy back in 2016.

The Dukes have 20 assists as a team this season placing them for tenth all-time in a single season and two more assists will put them in a three-way tie for eighth place all-time with the 2017 and 1995 Duquesne University women's soccer team.

ASSISTS ALL AROUND

11 different Dukes have recorded an assist this season … Morgan Kulniszewski leads the team with four assists in 2023.
17 of the Dukes 20 goals have been assisted this season ... Three DU scores have resulted from double assists, as the team has 20 total.
The 20 assists are the fifth-most in the A-10 by a team this season.

SHUTOUTS

The Dukes recorded their sixth shutout win of the season with its 3-0 win over George Washington, 2-0 win at St. Bonaventure, 1-0 win over Rhode Island, 1-0 defeat of FDU, 2-0 win over Saint Francis, and 5-0 win over American.
Duquesne has kept its opponents off the scoreboard eight times this season … The most since six clean sheets in 2018 … Five of the six shutouts in 2018 were wins, as one ended in a scoreless draw.
Eight shutouts are the third most by any A-10 defense this season trailing only Dayton and Saint Louis ... The 2023 Dukes also are tied for the second-most shutouts in program history in a season with the 1996, 2007, and 2017 teams ... The program record is nine, set in 2016 ... Eight shutouts would tie for the most in a season.

HOME-OPENING SCORING SPREE

The five goals in DU's home-opening win were the most in a game since Sept. 15, 2019 (a 6-0 win vs. Youngstown State) and the most in a home opener since 2005 (a 7-0 win over Vermont).
The home opener was the third time in the Coach Alvine era (12th season) that Duquesne has scored five or more goals in a game (6-0 win at Saint Francis on Sept. 23, 2016 and the YSU victory in 2019).

BACK ON THE BLUFF

Duquesne returns all but one of their nine goal scorers from last year's squad that reached the first Atlantic 10 postseason tournament since 2019. The 2022 Dukes finished with a 6-7-3 overall and 4-3-3 conference record, bowing out of the A-10 Tournament in the first round (0-2 loss at Davidson).
Duquesne had 20 different players start at least one match last season and returns 15 of them.

Mackenzie Muir and Margey Brown were both named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team a year ago and are back for their sophomore campaigns.
Maddy Neundorfer returns for her junior season in net for DU. Neundorfer ranked second in the Atlantic 10 in saves (96) and saves per game (6.0) in 2022, starting all 16 games.

NEWCOMERS RIGHT IN THE MIX

Coach Alvine brought in a talented recruiting class of 11 new players to bolster the long list of returners.
Anna Campanella (15 starts), a graduate transfer that spent time at Kent State and the past three seasons at Boise State, alongside freshman Jayden Sharpless (16 starts), a transfer from Georgia State, are a pair of newcomers that have started every game they've played in so far this season ... Sharpless is the only Dukes to start all 16 games.

SISTER, SISTER

The Dukes roster includes three sets of sisters this season. Kayla and her twin sister Skylar Leseck are freshman from Moon Township, Pa., Anna (freshman) and Emma Bundy (junior) from Wexford, Pa., and Anna (graduate student) and Ally Campanella (junior) from Hudson, Ohio.
Twins Kayla and Skylar Leseck are one of 16 twins playing Division I soccer this season … Kayla netted her first career goal late in the second half of the home-opening win over American.

THAT'S OUR COACH

Duquesne is led by 12th year head coach Al Alvine.

Alvine is the winningest coach in program history with an 81-96-29 overall record on the Bluff and a 42-52-17 mark in Atlantic 10 play.
Alvine doubled the Dukes win total from 2011 in his first season. He has led DU to five A-10 Tournament appearances. In 2015, he coached the Dukes to their first-ever Atlantic 10 Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance

PRESEASON POLL

Duquesne was picked to finish seventh in the 15-team Atlantic 10 Conference, its highest preseason rank since 2018.
Defending regular season and tournament champion, St. Louis is expected to repeat grabbing 14 of the 15 first-place votes.

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